Now that my trip has ended, I think it is expected of me to say some wise words. Having met some real hard core backpackers during the trip I’m convinced my advice would be trivial.
Even so, I think there’s one important lesson which I cannot afford not to pass on. So here it is, my cryptic little gem of wisdom …
“It’s true. Don’t ever forget your towel.”
I had fun sharing this with you. Jay Jun’s travel blog ends here.
Since it’s already at the end of the trip, just to let you know. I did miss up on two chances for Video Specials. I was suppose to do one in Venice but it rained. And the second was in Istanbul, it was just too hectic.
But nevertheless, I had a secret competition of, “The One Who Posts The Most Comments!”. Yeap, bet you didn’t see that one coming.
Before you proceed to add three thousand comments to each of my blog entries, the winner has already been decided, and it is the Bubblin’ Hai Lin !!
The prize .. ?
One Turkish New Lira! Not just any, it’s the newly released and better valued currency to help Turkey stand a better chance of being inducted into the European Union. The old Lira had to append the word ‘million’ to every price tag. Every conversation went like this …
“How much for the coffee?”
“3 million, sir”
“How much for the kebab?”
“Shish kebab, 5 million.”
So the New Turkish Lira is rare (well, for now anyway), and it’s worth around 1 AUD! Or 2.90 MYR!! So … congratulations again!
My 8 hour flight home doesn’t seem that long after 2 solid months of travelling- with day long train rides and a great deal of walking.
I did a little rough map route of the entire trip, estimated that I’ve travelled a grand total of 41,410.8 kilometres.
That’s about 845 kilometres a day, or about 35 kilometres an hour.
It is very odd to find a childhood memory that’s foreign is now localised in your adulthood. I’ve been to Tokyo Disneyland and I remember how freaky it was to hear Mickey Mouse speak Japanese. Now we’re going to hear Mickey speak Chinese.
At this point of time, the theme park is going to be officially opened in a month’s time. For now only the subway line and the area between the station and ticket booths are just opened. So I was surrounded by a lot of excited Hongkies.
Note the Mickey Mouse handrails.
It’s strange because you can’t go into the theme park yet, it’s 5:00pm and there’s practically nothing to do but buy bottled water here – but there’s heaps of people hanging out here! Why, Disney’s magic is alive and real.
I didn’t post a lot of stuff between the “signboard” and ticket booths as they are pleasant surprises.
I never realised the Bank of China and HSBC Bank was this close together. I wish I could go up to HSBC’s lobby but the security guards don’t seem to look too kindly on me.
I’ve always wondered if it would look better if it was a lot higher. It demonstrates how celebrating structure in an almost techno-phile way never really caught on as a brilliant move in 20th century architectural history, and still hasn’t.
Despite being over-referenced as an icon, it still manages to take your breath away upon seeing it first time up close.
What I find typical with Pei’s work are his huge atriums, definitely made possible by his keen understanding of structure.
A gem tucked in at the side, this is nice hidden surprise showcasing his landscape solutions.
I bought a MTR subway ticket and proceed straight to Mong Kok, due to advise from two local girls on the plane from Helsinki.
The perfect place to be during the SARS epidemic.
The long-awaited video. It happened at the Open Air Museum.
Jeff made it a point to see this place down after advise from John Gamble.
A real eye-opener after indulging in clean modern “Scandinavian” design all week. Lots of Viking-esque barns, farmhouses and water mills. Feels like Middle Earth.
Even taking into account malnutrition in the past, we couldn’t understand why all the beds were this small.
One of the many fort walls going around the island’s weak points. The stone walls appeared to be at least three metres thick. No surprises it’s still standing after all those wars.
Oh yea, and that gate is a human powered drawbridge, with its doors lowered.
As I went around the island, I realised it’s truly an open museum. This place has artifacts from medieval forts (with moats and drawbridge) to WWII anti-aircraft guns.
This is also one to break the myth that I had flawless planning and execution in my pilgrimage. I didn’t premeditate this one. In fact, I didn’t even know we were walking by a Steven Holl building until Jeff pointed it out to me.
The Classic Steven Holl Stunt, a curved lightwell ramp. Looked huge from the outside but as you can see, it’s not that big inside. Which goes to show how design can easily affect perception of scale.
Wish I had a paper crown at this point.
Panorama from the lake
On the other end of the scale, one of Aalto’s biggest civic buildings the Finlandia Hall. In fact, this is the only one finished building of an entire urban renewal scheme planned for Helsinki.
Up close, the famous 3cm Carrara marble slabs bending problems are much more apparent in real life.
Outside Art Installation made from Old Farming Equipment
The building still feels incredibly relevant despite its age. In fact, as time goes by I’m drawing more and more parallels – such as with Snøhetta’s opera house.
a young capricious architect chronicling an itch to backpack around the world and discover the deeper qualities of architecture, food and people.
